Water Management Lessons from Israel

Why in news?

The Indo-Israeli partnership is likely to extend to areas like water and agriculture.

What are the facts related to water?

India is water stressed. The country’s annual per capita availability of water is less than 1,500 cubic meters (cu.m) and that scenario is likely to worsen.
Currently, about 78% of fresh water in India is used for agriculture.

Israel has per capita water availability of less than 200 cu.m.
It is an extremely water scarce region. Yet, the country exports high-value agri-produce to Europe and many other parts of the world.
The country is known for innovations in water management - be it drip irrigation, recycling of urban wastewater for use in agriculture or desalinisation of seawater for drinking purposes.

How water is governed in Israel?

As per Israel’s water law, all water in the country is common property resource.
The government does accounting for every drop of water, ensuring good water governance.
As a result, in 2013, of the total water available in Israel almost 16% came from desalinating seawater and another 22% came from recycling wastewater.
Almost 62% of the irrigation water used in Israel comes from recycled and brackish water, thus saving potable water for domestic use.

Whether the micro-irrigation concepts are new to India?

Micro-irrigation technologies such as drip irrigation and sprinklers are not new to India.
India has about nine million hectares under micro-irrigation.
It can scale this up several times. But it needs to do so quickly.
Israel can offer lessons to India in this respect.
Any scaling up of technologies needs the right policy environment.
Water is not a free good. It needs to be priced to reflect its scarcity.
Such recycling endeavours with proper treatment that make wastewater safe have relevance in India.
India does have the technology for this purpose.

Where else India can cooperate with Israel?

Another area of potential cooperation is cleaning polluted rivers.
As per government reports, between 2009 and 2015, the number of polluted rivers and river stretches in India has almost doubled.
Almost 63% of the total sewage generated in the country is discharged into water bodies without any treatment resulting in acute river pollution.
Recently, the Delhi Government has roped in the Israeli firm to clean up an eight km stretch of the Yamuna.

What is the way ahead?

India needs an integrated approach to solving India’s emerging water crisis, involving different kind of interactions between Indians and Israeli agencies.

Source: The Indian Express